High School Track & Field: Ayala's Sydney Tullai races to three firsts in Sierra League

CHINO HILLS - Sydney Tullai's ongoing debate may be creating some internal stress, but it was fun for everybody else in attendance at the Sierra League finals track meet on Thursday.

The Ayala freshman may not have gotten any closer to deciding which event she'll focus on in the postseason as she won "the triple," claiming the 3,200 meters, 1,600 meters and 800 meters.

After just missing out on the CIF State cross country meet in the fall, Tullai has her sights set on the state track meet. She certainly has several people in the Sierra League convinced of her talent.

"She's great in all of those events," Ayala coach Dawn Staab said. "She has the leg speed and the endurance. She's had great success in age-group track, but now she has to take it to the next level and there's plenty of competition in CIF."

On Thursday, the 14-year-old won the 1,600 by more than five seconds, the 800 by more than two seconds and the 3,200 by nearly 1.5 seconds.

"That's insane what she did," Chino Hills coach Richard Morales said. "You can't even run all three of those events (at CIF-SS preliminaries). It's too taxing on one person."

Tullai said she is leaning toward focusing on the 3,200 the further she advances into the postseason, which begins with CIF-SS preliminaries on May 11, but she will study her competition in each event.

In all, Ayala qualified competitors for CIF-SS prelims in 12 events, as did Claremont.

Chino Hills led the way with 25 qualifiers while Damien had 17, St. Lucy's 11, West Covina South Hills 10 and Covina Charter Oak five.

Chino Hills junior Elijah Taylor will be busy at CIF-SS prelims having qualified in four events: the 100, 200 and both the 400- and 1,600-meter relays. Teammate Jack Austin, who is headed to Cal in the fall on a football scholarship, qualified in the 400 as well as both relays.

The Huskies' Dillon Groener qualified in a unique combination of events, finishing third in the long jump with a leap of 20 feet, 11 inches, and winning the pole vault by clearing an astounding 15 feet, 3 inches, the sixth-best mark in CIF-SS Division 1 this season.

On the girls side, Chino Hills' Taylor Smith qualified in four events. She finished first in the 400, second in the 200 and helped both the 400- and 1,600-meter relay teams to first-place finishes.

"We sent 17 kids to CIF last year but we're just a better overall team this year," Morales said. "We're sending kids in every discipline this season but our strength is still our sprinters."

When it's all said and done, Claremont sprinter Brittany Brown may be able to call herself the best in the state. The senior, who has run the second-fastest 100 meters in the state this season, qualified first in the 100 and the 200 on Thursday. She won't have to wait long to see her chief competition when she faces off with Long Beach Poly's Arianna Washington May 11 at CIF-SS prelims.

"I used to just think I was OK," Brown said. "But I've surprised myself this season and I'm not just OK, I'm actually pretty good. I'm feeling good and I feel like a (personal record) is coming."

Damien hurdler Michael Sanchez qualified first in the 110 high hurdles with a time of 19.92 seconds and second in the 300-meter hurdles behind teammate Anthony Quinn.

Damien distance runner Adam Williams qualified first in the 800, second in the 1,600 and Damien teammate Douglas Negrete qualified first in the 3,200.

Ayala's Ifunaya Gwacham qualified first in both the long jump and the triple jump.